THE Queen’s corner shop has had the best Christmas in its 305-year history – after selling out of £5,000 hampers.

So much for the recession, Fortnum & Mason revealed sales rocketed more than 17% during December.

That even trounces John Lewis’s celebrated 13% jump in festive sales.

Fortnum’s hampers include a £5,000 Imperial version packed with Beluga caviar, foie gras truffles, cognac butter, a magnum of champagne 2002 and a bottle of 30-year-old whisky.

The Duchess of Cambridge was shown the hampers on a ‘girlie’ trip with the Queen and Duchess of Cornwall to the landmark store in London’s Piccadilly in March last year.

A £3million investment in new warehousing and delivery systems helped prevent a repeat of last year when hundreds of customers didn’t receive their Christmas hampers in time.

Other big sellers were advent calenders, up 113%, tea towels, up 119%, and musical biscuit tins, up 85%.

Bosses said 400,000 customers flocked through its doors last month, up 8% on the previous year, and the busiest day was December 23 when it took £500,000 for the first time. Staff were rewarded with a £100 thank you.